


Stay

by xbleeple



Series: Teslen Appreciation Week 2018 [5]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Changing the Timeline, F/M, Historical References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16513022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xbleeple/pseuds/xbleeple
Summary: All Helen had to do was ask. All she ever had to do was ask.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For Teslen Appreciation Week
> 
> \---
> 
> Prompts: Historical and AU (Two different prompts mashed together)

Helen felt nauseous as she looked down at the box with both Nikola and James flanking her on either side. The two of them had worked tirelessly over the previous three weeks to engineer the container that was at least a century ahead of it’s time if not more. The irony wasn’t lost on her that at this point, her nausea was for a completely different reason. The thing that had been making her feel nauseous at all hours of the day was sitting in front of her, in stasis, with an uncertain future.

“What are you going to do?” Nikola asks as he looks over at her. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and all of his usual accents (waistcoat, jacket, and cravat) had been discarded hours before. James looked much the same. She herself was the most casual of the three, dressed in only her nightgown and a robe with her blonde curls hanging free past her shoulders. It was the least put together either man had seen her, but it was the only effort she could muster after the procedure.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Helen replies as she brushes her fingers over the top of the box. She looks up as James briefly touches her back to get her attention.

“We’ll be just down the hall. You should rest.”

“Right,” Nikola agrees, “It’s been a long day.”

“That it has,” She murmurs, only managing to muster a small smile that probably looked more like a grimace as both of the men depart from her quarters. She retires to her bed after snuffing out all of the sources of light throughout the room. Underneath the covers Helen curls herself into a ball and takes a shuddering breath as she buries her face into her pillow. In the morning Nikola brings her a bouquet of fresh flowers and she puts the box on the top shelf of the book case in her room next to a picture of her mother.

The box stays with her constantly, usually tucked in some unassuming place in her room. If anybody saw it it simply looked like an ornate jewelry box. Nikola hovers over it worse than she does sometimes, offering a new power source every few years until he assures her that it will run for over a century in the 30’s. He again inquires if she knows what she will do with it after installing the new source and spending a few days near by to make sure that it was stable. Again she replies that she has no idea.

When her hundred and thirtieth birthday passes she finds herself pulling the stasis chamber off of the shelf and placing it next to her bed. For the next five years it sits there and she watches it every night as she falls asleep. Nikola, of course, notices the first year when he comes to visit when he brings a bottle of burgundy to her room to catch up with her. She notices his gaze as she opens the bottle and confirms that she was thinking about it more, but that’s the last they speak of it. It’s less than a year before he visits again and he comes more frequently after that, becoming more like the friend she’d had for years at Oxford. The fifth year when he finds her on the top of the tower looking out over the city she tells him that she thinks that spring would be a good time to have a baby as a breeze catches her hair. He tells her he’ll take care of contacting James as he puts a hand on her back, standing next to her on the edge.

James comes to Old City and he and Nikola spend the time to prepare both Helen and the embryo for the implantation before moving ahead with the procedure. On the day of Nikola stands next to her and holds her hand, teasing the inside of her wrist with a single claw to take her attention away from the proceedings. He grins as she glares at him, winking playfully as he retracts it. She’s not surprised when he shows up in her room later that day, but she is surprised that he totes a Scrabble board with and takes up residence at the other end of the bed, silently starting to set the game up. James leaves a few days later but Nikola stays.

She finds him unpacking a trunk in one of the open labs soon after, spreading equipment out over the tabletops as he goes. She steps up to a stack of notebooks and flips open the cover on one, looking at the letters and number scrawled within. She gives the vampire a stern look as he appears in front of her and snaps the cover closed on her fingers.

“Nikola…”

“Yes?”

“I don’t need a nanny,” Helen tells him in a low tone.

“Not for a few months at least.”

“So, whatever you and James concocted up…“

"James had nothing to do with this. I wanted to stay so I’m staying,” Nikola assures her.

“Why?” Helen narrows her eyes.

“You can’t deny that we do great things together,” He tells her as he leans into her form, “Why ruin a great thing?”

“I’ve got my eye on you.”

“Oh I have no doubt,” He grins before resuming his unpacking.

After the first month and a half she starts to delegate responsibilities out, sending Nikola out into the field more with Declan while she stays back to watch over the residents. Declan had been under her tutelage for three years by that point, it was time to take the training wheels off. If he could handle Nikola out in the field he could practically handle anything.

By the time she’s seven months along she’s spending her entire day mostly behind her desk and only making time to spend with a few select residents. During the days, Sally always greets her with excitement, the mermaid couldn’t wait to meet the baby. In the evenings, Henry likes to put his hands on her stomach and feel the baby kick as she reads to him. Nikola generally glares as the boy stretches out on the couch between them and sticks his toes under the vampire’s thigh as he listens to Helen’s lilting voice finish the storybook. And on nights where the boy falls asleep he plucks him up off of the couch and carries him back to his room, if only to get Helen to direct him a soft look.

When she goes into labor on the literal first day of spring he spends a bit of time teasing her before she throws a book in his direction and he takes pity. He stays by her side the entire day until late in the evening, only leaving once everything has calmed down and the midwife has left. He brings Henry in a few minutes later and lifts him onto the bed, reminding him to be gentle and quiet as he sits on the far edge himself. The little boy sits on his knees next to Helen, looking at the new baby with wide eyes.

“What’s her name?”

“What do you think of Ashley?” Helen asks the boy with a tired smile.

“That’s pretty.”

“Yes, I think it’s quite fitting,” She agrees. Nikola gives them a few moments before taking Henry again and going to tuck him in to bed. When he comes back he sits on the edge of the bed next to her and offers her a warm smile as she looks up from Ashley’s face. She smiles back and reaches out to curl her fingers around his hand, squeezing much more gently than she had earlier. He tilts his head as she looks at him, his brow furrowing in question at the look on her face.

“What?”

“Why…why are you here, Nikola? All of these months and I can’t figure out why you’re still here,” She asks, “After the war I was so afraid you were just going to turn tail and run away but you stayed. And you kept coming back.”

“You asked,” He replies simply. He pulls a piece of paper out of the pocket of his waistcoat and holds it out to her. Helen takes the scrap and unfolds it with her thumb. The paper was well worn but it’s message had been printed on good stock that had probably helped it live wherever Nikola had been keeping it. The message itself was simple single word - stay - and scrawled in her own hand, signed with a looping H. She didn’t remember ever writing such a message, but it had obviously had an impact on him.

“That’s all I had to do?”

“That’s all you had to do,” He agrees, “That’s…about all you’ll ever have to do.”

“I’ve been thinking about her middle name,” Helen changes the subject, looking down at the sleeping baby in her arms, “I keep going back and forth. For the longest time, I was going to use my mother’s name, but lately I’ve started thinking about another.”

“I can’t say that I have any expertise but I always have an opinion,” Nikola tells her with a grin, making her laugh softly.

“Nicole,” She tells him before looking up to see his reaction, “Ashley Nicole.”

“You don’t have to flatter me…” Nikola protests.

“I’m not trying to flatter you. If it wasn’t for you she wouldn’t…I don’t know what today would be if we hadn’t been able to do what we did. And all of it was possible because of you,” Helen tells him, “You are a very important part of my life, Nikola, and I hope if you stay you’ll be an important part of hers. Of Henry’s.”

“Helen, what are you asking?”

“I am asking if you will stay,” She clarifies, emphasizing the word as she holds his gaze. Her heart beats a little faster as his eyes light up before he leans into her and presses his lips to hers. He pulls back a few moments later and the corners of her mouth turn up slightly.

“It only took you practically a century.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok - I have a couple of add-ons to this piece that won't leave me alone, so here is the first one.
> 
> Blood warning ahead cause vampires.

When she shoots him he's wearing his second favorite suit and he levels her with an unamused look as she finishes unloading the clip before flinging the pistol at his head and making a successful impact with his temple. If she feels bad for any of the injuries she's caused she doesn't show it and they start to heal instantly, the gash on his head closing first.

"I really think this is an overreaction to forgetting to send the dry cleaning out while you were in Mumbai."

"You bloody bastard!"

"So, not about the dry cleaning?" He ventures a guess.

"I’m pregnant!" She yells at him as she gives him a good shove, making his back hit his work bench. His eyes widen and his mouth forms a perfect 'o' as he looks at her fuming face. He puts his hands on her shoulders and pushes her back a step before straightening up himself.

"I didn't realize that was...possible," He replies with a confused tilt of his head.

"Well apparently it is!" She snaps and he swears she snarls at him before Ashley wanders over and hits her on the leg with a screwdriver.

"Mummum, food please," The little blonde requests. Helen sighs as she looks down at her daughter, rolling her eyes when she sees her dressed in grungy overalls and a black t-shirt, wondering where he had even found her a shirt in that color. Her hair was unevenly pulled into a ponytail that was practically smack dab in the middle of the top of her head and she had dirt smudges on her cheeks, no doubt from spending the morning in the lab. 

It had only taken Nikola six months to find his way into her bed and another four to stay there permanently. While he didn't necessarily have a natural finesse for parenting he did put forth a great effort with Ashley and Henry, and both children absolutely adored him.

"Come on, darling, I suspect it's about time you had lunch," Helen offers a warm smile to the two year old before holding her hand out, taking the screwdriver before walking her out of the lab and upstairs.

That evening Nikola bemoans the state of his suit as he sticks his fingers in the holes that she'd created before tossing the jacket and shirt into the trash, folding the pants into a loose collection he had. He arches his eyebrow as he buttons up his pajama shirt before walking over to the bed, still getting the cold shoulder from Helen as she lays on her side and fastidiously pretends to be asleep.

The cold shoulder she gives him lasts for a little over a week until she pages him over to the medical labs and he finds her sitting on one of the exam tables. She nods him over and leans back before unbuttoning the bottom of her blouse. With a squirt of gel and a few clicks on the machine to her right she gets the ultrasound going and holds the wand against her stomach. They both watch as she searches for what they were looking for, two floating bubbles popping up on the screen once they find the right spot.

Helen's eyes widen before she murmurs, "You've never done anything by half, have you?" 

“What are we looking at exactly?”

“Two embryos, that look to be about eight weeks developed,” She murmurs, shifting the doppler on her stomach as she continues her self examination, "Quick math says we can probably expect them in December. Provided a normal human gestation period, of course. I have to say I’m rusty on my knowledge of vampiric mating and gestation so I'm going to have to run some tests when I’m able.”

"I have some books in storage that might offer some insights."

"That would be helpful," She replies, finally cracking a smile. Nikola smiles himself as she buttons her shirt back up before sliding off the end of the table. He rests his hands on her waist under her lab coat and arches his eyebrow.

"So, you're not going to shoot me?"

"No,” Helen assures him with a pat on his shoulder and a soft smile before stepping away, her heels clicking against the floor as she walks out of the lab, "However the day is young!"

It's not until she hits her second trimester that things start to get a little odd. Nikola pauses when he walks into her office one afternoon and finds her tipping back a packet of blood and sucking it dry before tossing it onto her desk next to another empty one. She swipes a drip off of her bottom lip with her tongue and arches her eyebrow as he steps further into the room, a stack of books in his hands.

"That's a new one."

"Yes, well…”

"I'll find a deer," Nikola offers as he sets the books down on her desk, "Not exactly my favorite, but better than nothing. How long?"

"Last few days," Helen brushes him off with a wave of her wrist and a sigh, "What do you need?"

"Oh, I found a section in that text I've been going over, about vampiric mating."

"I'm surprised that wasn't the first section you read with your previous plans of reviving the race," She replies dryly making him grin. 

The two take a seat on the sofa in her office and he walks her through the finer details of what he had found. He explains that there was a reason the bite mark he had put on her inner thigh never went away, that theoretically there were four times a year where there was a possibility that they could conceive, and that the temporary blood lust would most likely clear up after she delivered. When a tray of tea gets brought in towards the end of their conversation he closes the books and stacks them up again. Helen nudges him with her foot after she manages to finish and refill, chattering on about other unrelated items, before he even takes a sip. Nikola snaps out of his reverie and shakes his head at her concerned look, offering a small smile. He drains the lukewarm tea before excusing himself back down to his lab, tucking the stack under his arm.

Each week Nikola fells a deer and drains it dry, packaging up the pints for her and storing them in the medical fridge. On a trip to Africa for an abnormal retrieval he takes down a couple of antelope and packs them into the cold storage on the plane. When he hands Helen the first pint before taking one of his own he grins as she inhales the scent and practically starts to drool. She drains the glass in one go and he opens his mouth to chastise her for not savoring it before finding it otherwise occupied. She steals the glass out of his hand and takes his portion as well before winking at him as she licks off her lips.

“I finished some of those tests while you were gone,” She explains to him as she drags her finger through the inside of the cup, gathering every bit of the remaining contents, “From what I can tell it doesn’t look like there are any genetic abnormalities that would lead to disease most likely due to the fact that both of the fetuses inherited your genetic makeup. I can’t tell if any other abnormalities may present, but based on what we have catalogued already it doesn’t seem likely.”

“Any other discoveries?”

“A boy and a girl, both growing at a perfectly normal rate,” Helen smiles as she sets the glass down after licking her finger. She hums as Nikola moves into her much the way she had pushed into him, capturing her lips. His hands rest on her stomach as hers run through his hair. When he pulls back she offers him another soft smile, “And here I was thinking you were concerned.”

“Me concerned?” He grins.

“Cheeky bastard.”

“You always say that like you’re surprised.”

“A hundred years later I suppose I shouldn’t be,” She laughs, making him grin wider, “Ashley has missed you, so come up for lunch.”

“How could I ever refuse such a tempting offer? Let me clean up and I’ll meet you upstairs,” He winks and she kisses him once more before gathering their glasses and heading upstairs. She picks up Ashley from her nanny and walks to the kitchen with her, lifting her onto the countertop with a grunt.

“You have gotten so big!” Helen exclaims and tickles the girl’s sides before starting to prepare lunch for both of them. Nikola walks in just as she's setting a plate with a turkey sandwich and a cut up apple down next to her daughter. Ashley flings her arms up in the air and squeals when she sees the vampire.

"NIKO!"

"Hi Ashley," Nikola smiles and lifts the girl off of the counter, letting her latch onto him.

"Missed you."

"I missed you too," He assures her and pecks her on the forehead before putting her back down on the counter.

............

The new memories tend to come in waves and as long as she wakes up in the morning she knows that the timeline hasn't been irrevocably corrupted.

Helen snaps awake in the middle of the night with a gasp on her lips. She pants softly as she looks around her room, if you could call it that. She'd been in the middle of the Australian Outback for a month and the shack was just about all she could afford at the moment while sinking all of her free cash into the tunnel system that was being dug out.

A groan escapes her as she leans forward and rests her head on her knees, a strong ache erupting in her head. The flashes of moments hit her all at the same time. _Nikola wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck as he cradles her stomach in his hands. Ashley suggesting names as she colors on the floor of the library while Helen assures her they would not be naming either of her siblings after Barney. Dinner at Alfredo's. Pain. Darkness._

Collapsing back against the pillow she sighs and slips a hand under her shirt, fingering the c-section scar that had appeared. _Two cherubic faces with dark hair and bright blue eyes. Eleanor. Alexi._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ......... - Denotes a swap between Helens

Raising twin vampires hadn’t been all that difficult once their continued research into the subject had shown them that the twins weren’t going to transform (and technically mature) until they hit puberty. The only difficult part was keeping them constantly fed. It only took a couple of feedings to deduce that the medication that Nikola normally took wouldn’t be effective until they were fully matured, so they still had to figure out how to support two growing appetites. 

In order to not cause a serious impact to the local deer population Helen and Nikola devised a catch and release system that would support the twins as they grew. Their diet followed a similar path like the one that Helen had maintained while pregnant. They would take normal meals with the rest of the family and would supplement when needed.

Yet, as all of them got older, there was no denying that the four children grew up with the future of the Sanctuary network in mind. 

Along with homeschooling they all had various 'extracurriculars' that they took enjoyment in. Henry was often in the lab with Nikola, helping him on some project or another. The boy was a sponge for knowledge and Nikola enjoyed the similar finesse he had for harebrained schemes and inventions. Ellie and Ashley were two peas in a pod most of the time and from a young age liked to spar with each other once their school work was finished for the day. Ellie's first transformation came at the age of eleven and it was a slow, summer long process of getting her switched over to the medication and training her before she could be allowed out in public again. After an incident where Ellie almost took Ashley’s leg off their parents put the kibosh on any more sessions directly between the girls. Alexi floated between all of them, but he was very much his mother’s son. From a young age he was constantly inquisitive of Helen’s work and set his mind to learning all of the ins and outs of the Sanctuary network he could. He learned about their local residents and would frequently visit those that he could. He was especially keen when Helen would acquiesce and take him on trips to the other sanctuaries.

Helen breezes into Nikola’s lab with her heels striking against the cement floor as she does up the last two buttons on her blouse.

“Nikola…”

“No, no, no, go the other way,” Nikola gestures and Helen rolls her eyes, setting her bag and jacket on the end of his work bench. He eyeballs the items before looking up at her with an arched eyebrow.

“You look like you’re leaving.”

“Because I _am_ leaving. I’ve told you twice this week alone that I am going to Mumbai for an executive committee meeting and to meet potential new staff candidates and I am late for my flight,” She sighs as she leans her hip against the bench, “Because _your_ son decided that today was the day to change and get blood all over my silk blouse. Needless to say he won't be going with me.”

“Did he now?” He replies with interest, “Full transformation?”

“Enough to kill that poor deer. Anyway, Alexi is in the SHU and he needs to be dealt with,” She tells him pointedly, “Ellie managed to help me get him contained but he’s going to need some professional attention and the deer he attacked will obviously need to be disposed of. Just let Mira know that he won’t be around for lessons the rest of the week and I’ll sort everything out when I get back. Henry needs to finish his chemistry project before he helps you with anything and pat Ashley down if she goes anywhere. She keeps trying to take that bloody gun out of the house.”

“Anything else I can do for you? Press your skirts? Maybe even do the payroll?”

“Don’t forget about the shipment coming in on Friday and I’ll be back on Sunday afternoon,” She grins and leaves him with a lingering kiss. Nikola shakes his head as he watches her go before setting his project aside and going to attend to his son. She had made him so utterly domestic. Well, as domestic as things could get around the Sanctuary.

To Helen and Nikola, it really was a blink of an eye before the children weren’t exactly children anymore and had their futures staring them in the face.

Henry was the first and completed a computer science degree, mostly online. Nikola congratulated his honors graduation with his own lab to work from and while Helen was proud of his accomplishments it just happened to coincide with the time that Ashley announced she had no intentions of gaining a college degree. The announcement left her mother mildly disheartened. Ashley instead decided to focus her attention on her current skills and continuing to put them towards the Sanctuary’s goal. Still Helen smiled when upon Ashley’s official graduation from high school school Nikola gifted the girl two clips of electro-charged bullets to test out. The giddy grin on Ashley's face was worth the small amount of heartache she'd had.

Ellie and Alexi, who were joined at the hip and the brain, ended up finishing their schooling program the same year as Ashley, two years ahead of schedule. Of course Nikola took most of the credit for that. After a fair amount of begging and pleading and begging and pleading the two had finally convinced their parents to let them apply to Oxford. Alexi had his sights set on becoming a doctor and following in the family footsteps while Ellie was planning on majoring in biology, intending on going for a PhD.

Getting the twins moved across the ocean meant spending a week in London getting the kids acclimated to the original Sanctuary before making the drive up to Oxford to drop them off, the twins begging them in the car to at least act a little normal once they get there. Helen laughs as Nikola grumbles at carrying the bags, insisting that he could have just made it in one trip if they would have let him. Alexi elbows him in the ribs with an unamused glare. After leaving the kids they spend an afternoon reminiscing along the river before heading back to London and Old City. 

On the plane, Helen jumps as she feels Nikola’s hand curl around her shaking one. She pulls her eyes away from the window and looks at him. He was sitting across from her and was exuding much more composure about the situation than she'd probably had in more than a month. She acquiesces to his silent plea and lets him pull her up out of her seat before she slides in next to him, half sitting on his lap as he wraps his arm snug around her waist.

“You are absolutely pitiful,” He tells her.

“I know,” She sighs.

“You’ve trusted me with them for sixteen years, I think James will be a rather large upgrade.”

“You make it sound like you’re some rabid animal, you’re their father,” Helen reminds him with a roll of her eyes before tightening her hand around his, “They’re out in the open and there’s nothing I can do to protect them.”

“Darling, may I remind you, they are both vampires, they both have multiple and relatively illegal weapons on them, and they’re in _Oxford_. You’ve taught them quite well over the years, I think they’ll be fine,” Nikola placates. Helen snorts and rests her cheek on the top of his head, enjoying a moment of normalcy.

The next few years go off without much of a hitch. The twins come home over their holiday breaks and send pictures of their travels during the summer and shorter ones. Even Ashley and Henry both get out of the house occasionally to join them. They gift Helen a picture of the four of them in front of the Wiener Riesenrad in Vienna to put on her desk. 

When she and Nikola make their way back to England to attend graduation, Helen is stunned with a sense of déjà vu as she stands and watches Alexi as he does up the buttons on his three piece suit while he and his sister are putting on the finishing touches before the ceremony.

"It's uncanny isn't it?" Nikola whispers in her ear.

"All he's missing is that horrible mustache," She laughs and jumps as he pinches her with sharp nails. Turning her head, she gives him an unamused look before reaching up to straighten Alexi's tie. Her hand moves up a little further after tightening the material and she strokes his cheek with a soft and warm smile on her lips, "I am extremely proud of you two. You've done so well..."

"Well, we learned from the best, didn't we?" Ellie grins as she pulls on her shoes before straightening her skirt, "Shall we?"

"Let's," Helen nods and wraps her arm around Nikola's before they make their way towards the exit for the dorm. As they step out into the sunlight she looks over at him and smiles.

"Are you sure you're old enough to have children graduating college?" Nikola whispers in her ear, "You don't look a day over thirty four."

"I am astounded that it took you a hundred and twenty years to make that joke for the first time."

However, their peace doesn't last. The first time John shows up she brushes it off as a dealt with fluke, but finds herself video chatting with the twins a few times that week, only stopping when they call her out and promise to call if they have any issues. When both the Cabal and John rear their ugly faces again in Rome it's all she can do to wait until they get back to the hotel before calling both the twins and the London Sanctuary, using hers and Nikola's cell phones to talk to them simultaneously. On the plane ride home they stop in London to pick up the twins before heading back to Old City. The ten hour flight is wrought with loud accusations, angry transformations, and the most yelling between the five of them that had been seen since the kids were teenagers. When they get back to the Sanctuary both the twins and Ashley stalk off silently and Helen holds up a hand as Nikola opens his mouth to speak.

"Not right now," She pleads softly, "Please."

Nikola closes his mouth and Helen practically drags her feet as she takes her suitcase up to their bedroom. She dumps it on the bed and kicks her heels off before curling up in a wingback chair by the fireplace. Her head lolls into the corner of the chair back and she sighs as she closes her eyes. She doesn't know how much time has gone by when she hears the click of the door opening and closing and the sound of a saucer and teacup being set down on the side table.

"I'm not drinking that if you made it," She mumbles, still refusing to open her eyes.

"I'm hurt," Nikola jokes as he bends over the fireplace, fiddling for a few moments to get the logs burning, "To be honest I haven't actually _made_ you a cup of tea since that time you vomited all over my shoes."

"I was pregnant, and the cream you gave me was off," She points out, finally opening her eyes. She reaches out and takes the cup into her hands, letting it warm her palms for a few moments before taking a sip. Another sigh escapes her as she looks into the cup's amber depths and studies the pattern painted on the china. Nikola takes a seat on the sofa and stretches his legs out before reaching over to put his hand on her thigh. He squeezes softly and she lets out a shuddering breath. The catch was barely audible, but he could hear it.

"Out with it," He prods. She shakes her head and takes another sip before offering him a tired smile.

"It's nothing."

"Helen..."

"Really," She replies, staving off anymore questioning. After finishing her cup of tea she returns the cup to the saucer and unfolds herself from the chair to busy herself unpacking.

When the group returns from Bhalasaam and Ashley disappears with the Source Blood both Ellie and Alexi lash out at their parents, loudly voicing their opinions that Ashley and Henry shouldn't have been allowed to go alone. That if the four of them had gone they wouldn't be having this issue. When Helen reminds them that they didn't have the field experience that both Henry and Ashley had Ellie effortlessly slides into a transformation and pins her mother to the wall with a hand around her throat. Her nails extend and she bares her fangs as black eyes bore into blue. Nikola manages to pull the two apart and Ellie storms off once more, a habit she seemed to have perfected over the months preceding.

Both of the twins help their father administer the cure for the Lazarus virus as John and Helen teleport to all the ends of the earth to find Ashley. As the pieces start to fall into place and some of the outlying sanctuaries are attacked it's Nikola who advocates for Ellie and Alexi to join them in London. He points out that while they didn't have field experience they were still extremely skilled at fighting and it would work in their favor since it was Ashley they were trying to save. To seal the deal he continues on that it's not worth splitting the family up at this point and leaving the twins behind would only give the Cabal reason to attack both sanctuaries at the same time.

Helen begrudgingly agrees to his points and the entire group makes their way to the London Sanctuary to get ready for the battle. After, when surveying the damage done by the fire elemental, the twins look at each other before looking at their parents, the extreme gravity of the situation settling in everyone's bones. Back in Old City as Nikola continues to make changes to the gun he takes pause as Helen slides a vial of blood across the counter to him before leaving the room without saying a word. When he finishes and puts the gun in her hand he curls his fingers around hers and squeezes.

"It's not going to come to this. No one is giving up."

"If it's not going to come to it then why did we make this?" She asks him, her normally confident voice floating out on a whisper. 

“Insurance,” He murmurs. He holds a capped syringe out to her and sighs softly, “El and Lex worked on this. It’s a pretty damn strong sedative. I don’t give it any guarantees but if we can get her non-combative for a moment and give her this…there’s a chance.”

“They worked on this?”

“Seems they really are our children,” Nikola smirks, “No one is giving up."

"Did you just give me a pep talk?" She mumbles with a small laugh, sniffling as she looks up at him.

"Yeah, well, in a life as long as ours there's a first time for everything."

Later in the evening, when they hear the explosion go off in the main lab, Alexi and Ellie look at each other before taking off down the corridor. They could hear quick footsteps behind them that were no doubt their father’s but they don’t pause in their pursuit. The three of them skid into the room almost at the exact same moment and Nikola barks out orders to them as he quickly assesses the situation, recognizing that Ashley was lucid for the moment. 

Ellie grabs the gun from next to her mother and fires at the other soldier as Alexi tackles Ashley. He puts a pair of vampire-level restraints on her in tandem with Nikola jabbing a needle into her neck and giving her a rather large injection of the cocktail the twins had cooked up. They both sit on her for the few moments it takes her body goes limp before getting up. 

“Take her to the SHU,” Nikola tells them before kneeling in front of Helen, his eyes assessing for other injuries besides the cuts on her arm.

………….

“Ashley!” Helen cries out, practically buckling at the knees. She catches herself with her hands on her desk and leans all of her weight against the hardwood. _Blue fighting gold. Blue. Gold. Blue. Gold. Blue. Blue. Blue._

She swipes at her eyes with the back of her hand and lets out a shaky breath as she manages to reach back to grab her chair. She sinks down into the plush leather and rubs her hand over her bicep, the stinging ache fresh in her mind. 

“Ashley,” She whispers softly.

………….

Helen groans softly as her eyes slowly open. She finds herself looking at the ceiling of her bedroom, but turns her head when she hears a rustle of fabric. There's two IV bags hanging off of the bedpost and running into the back of her hand that catch her eye before she realizes who's sitting in the chair next to her bed.

"Ashley..." She murmurs, her mouth dry and thick. The blonde perks up and straightens out, shuffling the chair as close to the bed as she could given her hands and feet were still in restraints.

"Hey Mom."

"W...mmm...what happened?" Helen asks.

"It's been a while since you've eaten anything," Ashley tells her as she leans forward a little bit. Helen can just barely make out a small smudge of blood in the corner of her mouth, "Dad found you passed out in the lab yesterday afternoon."

"How are you feeling?"

"Going on day four," The blonde smiles, but it's just the slightest bit hollow, "Tweedledee and Tweedledum think it's promising. They're going to try giving me the modified suppressant tomorrow. Consensus is..."

"...if you can go a full week we can take off the restraints. A month, we'll let you out of the SHU. Standard procedure."

"Right, a month..." Ashley frowns and looks down at the floor, her wrists flexing against the restraints slightly before going limp. She looks up again as she feels Helen's hand in her hair. She leans slightly into her mother's touch, closing her eyes and squeezing them tight.

"God...what have I done to you, to all of you?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helen is reintegrating to the timeline and everything starts to blend back together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look at this - it's chapter 4 and I didn't add annnny more chapters on to this. Go me! I hope you guys enjoy :D
> 
> Also mild inspo for Helen's dress [here](https://www.eliesaab.com/en/haute-couture/fall-winter-2017-2018/43)

The heels of her boots thunk gently against the cement floor as she makes her way into the Sanctuary for the first time in over a hundred years. Her fingers trail along the wall and she stops in front of Sally’s tank, tapping her nail against the glass softly. She smiles when the mermaid swims up in front of her and both of them press their palms to the glass.

It’s not until later in the day that she finally gets to see the kids. A knot settles in her throat as she looks up from the paperwork in front of her as they walk into her office. She felt like she was seeing them for the first time. Alexi was tall with his father’s wiry frame and his dark hair stood on end, offsetting the bright blue eyes he and his sister had inherited from their mother. Ellie had a similar slimness to her, exuding just slightly more athleticism than her brother did. Her dark hair was pulled back into a long braid, the curled tail brushing the small of her back.

When Ashley steps in just behind them Helen’s eyes well up a little bit and she has to stop herself from running across the room and tackling her to the ground. Gone was the platinum shade she had spent years lightening her darker blonde to, instead the stark tone was replaced by gentle highlights akin to the way Helen’s hair used to be when she was her daughter’s age. It was longer than normal and the soft strands fell in natural, beachy waves that were pinned away from her face. 

“Mom, you’re back!”

“Yes,” She attempts a warm smile that ends up coming out slightly strained, “I am. Why don’t you three catch me up?”

As the writing on the wall continues to become more visible Helen slips an envelope into Nikola’s suit jacket before handing it over to him as they get dressed in the morning. She places another in Ashley’s tactical belt before pilfering out the last few items that they needed or that were irreplaceable. When she pushes Nikola away as the Sanctuary collapses around them she questions every decision she’d made over the last two centuries for a moment. It takes her a while to dig herself out of the rubble and get down to the Underground Sanctuary. She spends much of the next few days running the system’s revival from her bed as she recovers from the few injuries she did sustain.

A week later she pulls herself out of bed and gets dressed before making her way down to the entrance as she gets beacon notifications from the security system. When she hears the door hiss and sees Nikola and the kids step through an unusually wide smile breaks across her face as complete wonder blossoms across their own.

“Oh my dear Helen, you have…quite a lot of explaining to do,” Nikola murmurs as he watches a sphere roll by on the rail system before disappearing down a tunnel.

“Quite a lot,” Ellie reiterates as she looks around the grounds, surprised to see a lot of their residents and some from some of the other sanctuaries.

“How about some tea?” She suggests, clasping her hands together. Nikola gives her a dark look after the wonder subsides and her insides clench, “Maybe a bottle of wine for your father? We have some new vintages in the cellar I think you’ll find to your liking.”

“Oh do _we_?”

“Nikola, just give me a chance to explain, all of you, please,” She pleads as her eyes dart between the four of them. Ashley gestures silently towards the path that they were all standing on.

“Well, you’re the only one who knows the way,” The blonde points out after a moment of silence. Helen leads them into the main building and up to her private study. She leaves everyone to find a spot to sit as she walks over to the small bar area that was set up in the corner. She adjusts the temperature on the hot water dispenser she had built in and dishes out tea bags in each cup before filling them and leaving them to steep. While waiting she looks through the selection of wine bottles in the small rack, picking one out before going through the process of uncorking it and pouring it into a decanter.

With a practiced hand Helen manages to carry over the tray of tea cups while holding the decanter and a wine glass in her other hand. She gives the two items to Nikola before setting the tray down on the coffee table and taking her own cup as she sits down on the opposite end of the sofa.

“So, who would like to start the berating?” She asks as she takes a sip of her tea.

“We thought you were dead,” Alexi pipes up, anger evident in his tone, “We’ve spent hours every night for the last four days looking for your _body_ in the rubble of our house!”

“We didn’t have anywhere to go and all of the accounts were empty,” Ellie growls, her nails extending slightly. Ashley gives her a look of warning before speaking herself.

“Everybody knows who we are, Mom. SCIU was all over the place,” Ashley explains, “It’s not exactly like we learned a ton about government evasion growing up considering all of the support that the network had. We couldn’t get a hold of anyone, all of the phones were disconnected, the email accounts wiped…everything was gone.”

“Any choice words from you?” Helen asks as she looks at Nikola.

“Not until I drink the damn wine cellar dry,” He grumbles and abandons the glass on the table, drinking straight out of the decanter.

“Right,” She grimaces before taking another drink of her tea and setting the cup down on the table, “So, where should I start?”

“Probably the point where you lost your bloody mind and then we can work back from there,” Ellie mumbles as she grabs her own cup and settles back into her chair for what was most likely going to be a long story.

“Well, two years ago Ashley died…” Helen starts after taking a moment to think about where would be a good spot to start the story. It takes her a couple of hours to walk them through what had happened since she’d looped back in time and by the time she’s done she can see that everyone is exhausted and reeling. She takes a moment to clean up their dishes and the three other bottles of wine that Nikola had been through before resting her hands on the back of the sofa as she stands behind it, “I know that this has been a lot…”

“That’s an understatement,” Ashley sighs as she tucks some hair behind her ear, “At least none of you died during story time.”

“No, we just didn’t exist,” Alexi replies dryly.

“…but it’s late. Why don’t I show you to your rooms and we can talk more in the morning?” She suggests, smiling slightly when she doesn’t receive any protest. Nikola stays behind as the kids follow her to their new quarters. She leaves them with some basic directions and instructions before walking back to the study. She pauses as she shuts the door behind herself, watching as Nikola slowly pours out two glasses of wine before setting the bottle on the table. He looks up as he hears the door latch and it takes a moment for him to stuff the haunted look back under.

“I thought I could at least partially share this one,” He jokes.

“How kind of you,” She grins slightly and walks over to the sitting area. She picks up her glass but stays standing, wandering around the room. She’d been here for so long already but somehow it also seemed new.

“Did you do it just for Ashley?” He asks, wanting to know why she changed the timeline.

“For you as well,” She admits, turning to him, “That’s why I slipped you the note after the war.”

“All it said was ‘stay’.”

“I didn’t know what was going to happen when I gave you that note, anything too specific of an ask could have ruined the timeline. Looking back at it I figured that all you needed was a bit of a nudge,” She smiles briefly, “I hoped for the best and feared for the worst, that maybe there was a reason we were supposed to spend that time apart…but every day I woke up and there were new memories of you, and then later on there were memories of the twins, and then there were new memories of Ashley…and the world didn’t fall apart…”

“Present events not withstanding.”

“Yes, well…” She rolls her eyes and takes a large gulp of wine, “They were already going to fall apart last time so…seems some things you can’t change without a bit of effort.”

“Helen…” Nikola murmurs as she stops in front of him and sets her glass down. She brushes her hand down his tie and gives the end a gentle tug before taking a deep breath and looking up at him.

“This might be a little presumptuous after the day we’ve had but right now I could really use a hug. Please.”

Nikola wordlessly wraps his arm around her waist and pulls her closer to him. She wraps her arms around his torso and buries her face into his shoulder reveling in the scent of his cologne and the tinge of ozone that seemed to always exist around him. For a few moments she simply holds on to him in silence like it was the last time she was ever going to be allowed to touch him.

“I’ve lived a life where I didn’t hear from you for sixty years and I’ve lived another where I couldn’t touch you for a hundred,” She whispers, “I’m so tired Nikola…”

He runs his fingers through her hair and swallows as he squeezes her a little tighter. The two stay pressed against each other until they hear a door close down the hallway and then Helen breaks their embrace. She picks up her wine glass and drains the contents, swiping an errant drop from the corner of her mouth. Nikola refills the glass before he stuffs the cork back into the bottle and sets it next to the two that were left in the holder. He picks up both glasses in one hand and puts a hand on her back, nudging her towards the door. She wordlessly leads him to the bedroom that she had slept in alone for so many years. He kicks the door shut and sets the glasses down on her bedside table before grabbing her hand and pulling her to him, capturing her lips in a hungry kiss. She moans and clutches the fabric of his suit jacket in her hands, kissing him back with just as much force.

After, she rests her cheek against his chest enjoying the coolness against her warm skin. The wound on her thigh was throbbing and the sheets were covered with streaks of red. She runs her hand across his abs and up his chest, her palm resting over his heart. He tugs gently at her hair, combing out a few knots with his slim fingers before pressing his lips to her forehead, “Sleep, _ljubav_.”

\- - - -

Things didn’t instantly get easier. The kids harbored resentment towards their mother for quite a while and it was quite an adjustment moving their lives underground. Alexi and Ellie had to face the fact that their dreams were put on hold for the immediate future. Henry and Erika had to make a choice between living at the Sanctuary and living on the surface. All of the Sanctuary employees were given options of staying with the system or moving on to other things. Those who stayed were given the opportunity to select a cavern to be a part of or be their eyes and ears on the surface ground. All in all a few years would pass before things settled down and life seemed normal again.

\- - - -

Helen winces as she rolls over in bed and instead of finding a semi-warm body next to herself she runs face first into a box. She rubs her eyes and sits up, looking at the large sapphire blue wrapped box on Nikola’s side of the bed. She sits up a little bit and pulls the box into her lap, flipping over the tag that was attached to the large white bow on top.

“Happy birthday. Put this on and meet me by the waterfall at 11. Love, Nikola,” She murmurs as she reads. She drops the tag and slips a nail under the seam in the paper and tears it away from the box, unveiling an unmarked white garment box. Pulling off the top she finds a pile of black silk, chiffon, lace, and beads. A smile ghosts over her face and she slips out of bed, carrying the box over to her wardrobe. She puts it down on a foot stool and takes the contents out, holding it up to her body as she finally gets a look at the whole.

The skirt of the dress was black silk that brushed the floor while the top was long sleeved chiffon that had a low cut neck line and an intense amount of beading and lace in black and varying shades of silver that was surprisingly tasteful. It was a little bit more revealing and ornate than she would normally wear but exactly what she would expect from Nikola. At first blush the dress seemed to be extremely high quality if not hand made and she a fleeting thought fly across her mind to wonder how much it had cost her. She admires it for a few more moments before gently putting it on a hanger and leaving it to rest, her mind working over time to think of what they could possibly be doing at 11 on a Thursday morning that warranted such an outfit.

Helen doesn’t see nor hear a peep out of Nikola for the rest of the morning until she retires back to their room to get ready. She adds a more uniform curl to her hair and pulls a few strands away from her face with a clip that had been her mother’s before applying her makeup with a little heavier of a hand than normal. With a spritz of perfume she pulls the dress on, unsurprised to find that it fit like a glove once she pulled the zipper up. She chooses an appropriate necklace and a pair of matching earrings before slipping on her heels. She takes one last look in the mirror before stepping back into the bedroom and smiling when she sees a pair of sleepy but grinning blue eyes staring right at her.

“Look who’s up from their nap already,” She exclaims in a soft voice, carefully kneeling down next to the crib that sat at the foot of her and Nikola’s bed, “And how’s my darling Lilibet?”

“Mama!” Elizabeth grins and reaches out to her mother. Helen laughs and lifts the baby over the side before standing up. She presses a kiss to her chubby cheek and brushes her blonde curls away from her face as she settles her on her hip.

“Are you going to be a good little girl for Erika this afternoon?” She asks as they make their way down towards the waterfall. Elizabeth rests her head against her mother’s chest and pops her fingers in her mouth as they walk, “You’ll get to play with Alice.”

The girl lets out a wordless hum of interest and Helen smiles, pressing a kiss to the crown of her head. Once they step out onto the green space she spots Nikola waiting by the waterfall with Ashley and Erika while Alice was running out some of her energy chasing after a pair of fairies in the grass. She approaches the group with a smile on her face, letting it widen slightly as she sees Nikola drag his eyes slowly over her form.

“I don’t know what you’re up to…” She threatens him.

“You’re going to love it,” Ashley assures her mother.

“Oh and how do you know?”

“I helped,” The blonde grins. Helen shakes her head and shifts her grip on Elizabeth to hand her to Erika, frowning when she doesn’t let go. She sighs and the little girl looks up at her with wide eyes, her bottom lip sticking out a little bit. Helen looks at her for a moment before narrowing her eyes at the little girl.

"You're faking it," She declares as she tickles the baby under the arm, getting her giggling enough that she's able to hand her over. Elizabeth whines and reaches out for her mother once Erika has a hold on her, but Helen peppers her face with kisses before brushing her hair back and smiling at her, "Mummy will be back in a few hours, my darling, I promise.”

“She'll be fine in a few minutes, I fed her before she went down for her nap and there's milk packets and bottles in the fridge in her nursery,” Helen relays to Erika.

"We'll be fine, won't we little bug?" Erika assures her as she bounces Elizabeth, calling Alice over. Helen gives the baby one last kiss and smiles as Nikola playfully bites at her tiny fingers as holds her arms out to him after realizing her mother wasn’t going to take her back.

"Dadaaaa," She whines again and tries to latch onto his tie as he leans forward and kisses her forehead before Alice runs over and grabs onto her mother's hand. Erika steps back before Elizabeth can grab onto her father and the three of them head inside after telling the pair goodbye. Just before they disappear into the building Nikola grimaces at a particularly piercing wail, wiggling his finger in his ear.

“She gets that from you, you know.”

"You owe Erika when we get back from whatever it is that we're doing," Helen reminds him.

"And here I was trying to be nice and celebrate your birthday," He grins and winks at her before gesturing towards Ashley, "Grab on."

“Ladies and gentlemen, please keep your hands and legs inside the ride at all times," Ashley quips before grabbing on to the both of them and disappearing in a flash of light. Almost instantaneously they rematerialize on the surface in what seemed to be a secluded alleyway, “Meet you back here in five hours?" 

"Yes," Nikola nods and Ashley zips away as Helen lifts the hem of her dress just slightly to stop it from dragging on the dirty ground. She looks around and observes their surroundings before she arches her eyebrow at the vampire.

"If this is your idea of a birthday present..."

"Your present is this way," He replies after rolling his eyes, taking her arm in his before leading them out of the alley. He gestures with a flourish as they step out onto a busy road in front of the Musikverein concert hall, "Welcome to Vienna."

“Oh Nikola,” Helen breathes as her eyes widen.

“You haven’t been top side since we decided to have Little Bit, so I thought it would be a nice change.”

“ _Lilibet_ ,” She corrects for the hundredth time, making him grin as he leads her down the block.

“I know, but Little Bit, Baby Bites, it all goes so well together don’t you think?” He teases. She snorts and continues to walk along side him, “So food, music, and if we have time, maybe a little extended walk down memory lane. It’s all under the table, paid for in cash, fake names, the works.”

“Sounds like the best plan you’ve put together in a while,” She smiles and follows him into a restaurant. After a delicious multi course dinner for Helen and a variety of wine pairings for Nikola they leave the restaurant quite sated with the latter murmuring about getting the restaurant to loosen their hands on a few bottles of their finer vintages. They walk back to the concert hall and Nikola produces tickets for two box seats to the philharmonic as they walk inside. They’re shown up to their box and Nikola helps Helen into her seat before sitting down next to her, “What are they playing?”

“It’s a new show, a new take on some classics with original pieces mixed in,” He describes, “It’s supposed to be good. If the internet is anything to go by.”

“Well if we can’t trust the internet…” She grins and reaches out, threading her fingers through his and holding their hands in her lap, “Thank you for this. I really appreciate it.”

“You haven’t even heard the orchestra yet.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Her smile softens, “This is the best evening I’ve had in years.”

“How many?” He grins and she shakes her head tossing his hand back at him with a laugh.

“Cheeky bastard.”

Helen leans forward slightly as the orchestra filters in and takes their places around the stage. It’s a few more moments before the conductor comes out and the lights dim. With a few gestures of the conductor’s hand the cello section dives in to Bach’s Suite 1 in G Major. Her eyes almost instantaneously slip closed and she loses herself in the music, silently listening and drifting through each of the solos and full orchestra pieces. By the time they leave the theater almost three hours later Nikola grins as Helen hums and sways quietly next to him with a particularly dopey smile on her lips.

“I haven’t heard music played like that in decades, maybe even a century,” She murmurs as she leans into him and curls her arms around his, “It was absolutely beautiful.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Any chance there’s time for that extended walk down memory lane?”

“Not this time unfortunately,” He offers her a regretful smile, “Maybe we can come back.”

“I would very much like that,” She tells him and gives his arm a squeeze, “Christmas? We could bring the children. Lilibet would like the snow. We could stay for a little while.”

“I think that sounds like a fantastic idea.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've posted all of my prompt responses for TAW in the series this is attached to. Enjoy :)


End file.
